TRUST - The Essential Element in Humanitarian Work / Reflections from people of action

The global reality is that one in 33 people will need life-saving assistance to ensure their food, water and sanitation needs are met in 2021 due to conflict and climate crises. Rotary’s centenary Future of Peace Leadership symposium in April, asked important questions about the role humanitarians and people of action play in sustaining peace.

RedR Australia's CEO, Kirsten Sayers, convened a panel with RedR Australia experts Natascha Hryckow, Anggie Burchill, and Barnaby Caddy. In the session titled How do Humanitarians Contribute to Sustaining Peace, the panel provided perspectives on engaging with government, communities and other influencers in the delivery of humanitarian action.

Trust: the essential element

Focussed on the trust dimension of effective humanitarian work, the panel drew on its breadth of humanitarian experience and shared perspectives on why trust is critical to humanitarian work.

For Natascha, current Coordinator UN Panel of Experts on Somalia and former RedR Australia board member, understanding the trust deficit and what the gaps are is critical: “you need understanding to build trust – and you need trust to build understanding".

RedR Australia deployee to UN Women in the Solomon Islands in 2019 through the Australia Assists program, Anggie Burchill spoke of the importance of trust to ensure humanitarian responses are fit-forlocal communities.

you need understanding to build trust – and you need trust to build understanding.

Natascha Hryckow, Coordinator UN Panel of Experts on Somalia and former RedR Australia board member

Anggie is well-versed in the role of trust, particularly disaster risk reduction planning, after two Pacific deployments: “effective responses hinge on access and it is difficult to gain and retain access without community trust”. From a gender and inclusion perspective, Anggie spoke of how women are disproportionately affected by disasters and have a different capacity to recover: "we must be careful not to unravel a fragile level of trust and ensure that our support, however well-meaning, does not exacerbate existing divides".

Barnaby Caddy deployed with Australia Assists in July 2020 as an Operations and Logistics Advisor with the office of the Bougainville Electoral Commission. Learning from his experience, Barnaby reflected that "trust is not automatic," and "there is significant mistrust of many agencies and NGOs that deliver humanitarian aid within communities". Trust, Barnaby said, needs to be earned at both an individual and organisational level.

How to build trust in humanitarian work

As CEO of the only UN Standby partner in the Asia Pacific with extensive experience working with communities and governments before, during, and after crises and conflict, Kirsten led reflections on the linkages between humanitarian work and peacebuilding.

Barnaby confirmed the importance of role of the ‘humanitarian ambassador’. Mistakes made by an individual can become mistakes for everything that comes afterwards, shaping perceptions on an organisation or country.

“ Building trust is also about doing your homework”. Natascha said that technical expertise alone is not enough when linking humanitarian action and peacebuilding. Rather, time should be spent on asking the right questions and listening to people and communities living and working as humanitarians and leaders.

“ Responsiveness and adaptation to the communities’ needs is a vital ingredient to building trust” said Anggie. “Without sensitivity to the contexts and capacity of people affected by conflict, trust is hard to build and quickly lost”.

In closing, Kirsten reflected on the need for people of action to be prepared, culturally and technically competent, and responsive to trust dynamics.

" RedR is proud to work with Rotary and its community of talented and committed people of action".

" By building trust, partnering, and working together, we can build a safer, more inclusive and sustainable peace, and future, for communities around the world”.

Visit our website redr.org.au to learn more about RedR Australia, our deployees, and our upcoming humanitarian training courses. •

Australia Assists deployee, Anggie with local UN Women colleagues Beverley and Steven in Papua New Guinea. Anggie deployed as Gender and Protection Specialist to support the humanitarian response to the earthquake that hit Papua New Guinea in February 2018.

Australia Assists delpoyee, Barnaby (pictured centre) with Solomon Islands Electoral Commission team members Gail and Kate in 2019.